POWER IS ANOTHER INFLUENCE that fortifies our role reflex. Psychologist David Kipnis in his book The Powerholders reports on a series of experiments he conducted that demonstrated how power influences and changes the powerholder. Results indicated that
(1) the more the powerholder has at his disposal the means to punish and reward, the greater the temptation to use this power (power
is more expedient; instead of spending time and effort persuading
his employees, the powerholder becomes more and more directive:
“Do this and I’ll give you a bonus,” “Do that or else!”); (2) the more
the powerholder uses his power, the more he attributes the successes
of his employees to his own leadership (“My orders and influence
caused the workers to perform effectively”); (3) over time, the more
the powerholder attributes the success of his employees to his own
leadership, the more he begins to devalue his employees (“It was my
success! Not theirs! They were just following orders.”); and (4) the
more the powerholder devalues the worth of his employees, the more
emotional distance is created, which results in a lack of empathy toward his employees.1

Undervaluing the worth of their employees coupled with poor empathy makes it painless for managers to enact their functional, bottom-line role. They can push harder and harder for their workers to
produce quicker, more efficiently, and less expensively. The result can

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